Duty Beyond Death
by Hideout Writer
Summary: When a powerful necromancer kidnaps the heir to the position of Everqueen, it's up to Aragon the Grey and Ajax to retrieve her before the Old World is doomed by the presence of the most powerful necromancer ever to have exsisted.
1. Chapter 1

Ajax had been sitting on a deck chair, calmly sipping on something that he had not identified, but tasted good and was strong enough to create a pleasant buzzing sensation in his head.

He had been watching the surf pounding the coast when he heard a vehicle slow to a stop behind him. A moment later, Ajax heard the door open and close, followed a moment later by the sound of boots on sand.

"Call for you, Ajax." came the baritone voice.

"I'll take it on line one, Bill." Ajax said, hoisting himself out of the chair.

"I think you should bring Amaranth with you." 'Bill' said, motioning towards the vehicle. "Come on, I'll drive you. If it is who I think it is, you'll be reinstated to active duty."

"Really?" Ajax asked.

"Well, there is the formality of actually accepting, but I've got a good guess. My sister…well, you know."

Ajax uttered a string of profanities that diplomatically described his thought's on 'Bill's sister.

"I knew you'd agree."

"Fine. Anything new on the loop for me, Death?" Ajax asked, getting into the vehicle.

"Some idiot has once again decided to toy with rules that I've instated." Death replied, starting the vehicle. He began driving back to the compound. "I absolutely motherfucking HATE necromancy!" he roared after several seconds of silence. "Von Carstein, may his soul be eaten by unmentionable things, is back on the loose again, re-animating at will. Use whatever means you think you need to eliminate him." Death said. "Permanently." he added, in an oily voice.

"Gladly." Ajax muttered darkly. "Still, I'm gonna lead him on about this."

"Who?"

"Aragon. I bet he's the one calling." Ajax said, getting out of the vehicle. He went into the communications room, and picked up the handset that was sitting there. After toggling the 'creepy ghost voice' switch, Ajax started to speak. "Aragon!" he snapped out. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, interrupting my vacation like that? What sort of motherfucking trouble have you managed to get yourself into THIS time? I'm gonna need my other boot, if the grapevine is right."

The answer was swift and sharp. "Do you have any godly idea how long it took me to find you? I figured I'd find you hanging around a beach, but having committed SUICIDE? You're damn lucky I desperately need your help, or I'd have half a mind to beat you senseless for being so selfish!" came the disembodied voice of Aragon.

Ajax grinned, put his hand over the mouthpiece and jerked his thumb towards the phone for Death's benefit. "He seems angered."

Death sniggered at that, but waved for him to keep going on the phone.

"I was hanging around a beach, but I knew you'd come head-hunting me, so I went somewhere I had HOPED was safe from your influence. In so doing, I knew that I'd only get called if it was actually important. Like this little situation you've managed to get yourself mired into. Gimme ten minutes, I'll be right down. That is a promise, so DON'T call back! This line is for emergency use only, and you've already called yours in." Ajax finished his return shot and hung up the phone, conveniently cutting off whatever else Aragon had to say. Ajax then stormed out of the comms building to his quarters, where he began throwing his gear together.

"So, the infamous Von Carstein case." Amaranth said, raising an eyebrow. She was already ready to go, and was watching Ajax with a bemused expression on her face.

"Yeah." Ajax replied. "A real sonofabitch if he makes Aragon call me in desperation. Why he couldn't get the trident force together is beyond me. He could have grabbed those three, borrowed the _Phoenix_, and gotten the job done by the time he'd hunted me down and called. Sheesh. Persistent sonofabitch though, I'll give him that."

Amaranth agreed, and the pair exited the cabin.

At exactly ten minutes after Ajax had unceremoniously dropped the phone back onto the hook with enough force to cause thunder in Aragon's séance, Amaranth and Ajax returned to the land of the living.

It turned out to have been three days.

"Part-time Inquisitor, remember?" Aragon drawled from the land-side entrance to the cave. "Also, full time persistent sonofabitch. It might take forever and a day, but I'd still find you and" Aragon was cut off in his welcoming speech by Amaranth exiting the water, looking human. "It's good to see you again Amaranth, and don't even start on me, I've spent eight months as head of the Riders: I'm entitled to berate someone who is technically under my purview for being AWOL."

"I wasn't about to start on you, Aragon." Amaranth said. "I haven't the inclination, I was just exiting the water, that's all." she smiled sweetly at Aragon, who scowled.

"_Enough!" _Thelduin cried. _"We can stand here and bicker and Mannfred Von Carstein can bring back Nagash and doom the Old World, OR we can acquire what we'll need and stop him now while we still have time! Which will it be?"_

Ajax regarded the dragoness coiled on Aragon's shoulders, before speaking. "Okay, starting with you first, Aragon. I'm an employee of Death, Incorporated if you wish. That puts me well OUT of your purview. Thelduin, good to see you, I've got the supplies we'd need aboard the _Phoenix._ Pray tell, which IS the Old World?"

Aragon was about to reply, but Amaranth beat him to it. "I've had it with you two! If either of you snipe at each other ONE MORE TIME, I'll personally bash your heads together hard enough for the both of you to see universes blinking in your respective fields of vision. And considering the thickness of YOUR skull, Ajax, that will be quite the achievement." So saying Amaranth huffed slightly in irritation before allowing Ajax to finally climb out of the water and dry off.

"You mean to say that you DIDN'T travel to a world with two moons, one of which was composed of solidified warp-energy, and had a gigantic warp-rift at either pole? Looked vaguely like Earth? No? Well this should be an enlightening experience for you; I spend my off days here offing the occasional necromancer, jumped-up two-bit Chaos Lord or over-ambitious orc Warboss. With your nigh invulnerability and incorruptability, I'd wager that we just might be able to do something actually constructive on this visit; well, ASIDE from mending diplomatic relations between the Asur and Dwarfs and stop the resurrection of the demi-god of necromancy." Aragon said forcefully. The sarcasm in his voice had Amaranth glaring warningly at him, but she made no move towards his skull.

"No, never saw a world matching your description. Why? Anyway, why are you offing orc warbosses on Earth? Doesn't matter, I'll get my prodigious resources together, and we'll get under way. I think we'll use my ship? Death gave me some things before I came back...a complete dossier to start with." Once again, Amranth was sending warning glares, but this time towards Ajax, who gulped and backed up slightly.

Aragon shook his head in irritation, but chose to ignore his antics.

Ajax sighed, then picked a manila folder out of thin air. He reach for his radio and clicked on before saying "Ajax to _Phoenix_. Four to transport."

The four that had been in the moonpool suddenly found themselves standing in the starboard 302 bay, and Ajax returned the radio to his pocket. "Give Phoenix the location of the Old World. From what I understand of your speech, it's Warhammer?"

"Yes." Aragon said. He followed Amaranth to the bridge, while Ajax placed the dossier on the deck before assuming a meditative posture.

Five minutes later, Aragon returned, closing the supposed airlock door behind him. Ajax had been waiting for that and punched to button to open the hangar doors.

"I have the complete dossier of Von Carstein's doings right here in my hot little hand." Ajax said, waving the file. A flick on the console, and the gravity shut off. Ajax remained firmly on the floor, and walked towards the door, stopping several meters short. The file had been abandoned when Ajax started walking, and Aragon grabbed it before re-engaging the gravity.

Ajax had just assumed a position of hanging upside down in midair when the gravity re-initialized.

"This is no time for games, Ajax." Aragon said, opening the file. Thelduin began reading along side him, and Ajax decided to fly for a bit, not wanting to be near Aragon at the moment.

A moment later, the file was closed, and Aragon turned to face Ajax. "WHAT. THE . FUCK. IS. THIS. SHIT. YOU. CALLED. INTELLIGENCE ON CARSTEIN!" Aragon roared.

"You forgot to ask permission to read classified documents, Aragon." Ajax replied, "So, you got the security instead."

"A graphic novel? Featuring me and Thelduin doing IT?" Aragon replied. He wrenched his sword out of the scabbard and chucked it at Ajax, who hard turned away. The blade ended up in his back, missing his spine by an inch.

"I'd have been better if you were alone." Ajax replied coolly, standing up. He silently handed the blade back to Aragon, proffering it hilt-first. "Then it would have been you and your dream girl, but as Thelduin was a female, and reading the documents at the same time as you…I must admit, I like Death's sense of humor, when it's not gallows humor."

"YOU KNEW!" Aragon roared. A moment later, Ajax fell to the ground in the clutches of Thelduin's coils.

"Yes." Ajax replied, wheezing slightly. "I knew. Still, I also knew it would take a bit before we actually got there." The coils tightened around Ajax.

"_Allow him to read the documents."_ Thelduin hissed in Ajax's mind.

"Fine, let me up first. The security scripts don't recognize permission given under duress."

"_Oh for goodness gracious."_ Thelduin replied. Still, she released him.

"I, Ajax, an employee of Death Incorporated, do hereby give Thelduin and Aragon permission to read the Von Carstein dossier."

Aragon cautiously opened the file again. "You're damn lucky I need you, Ajax." he growled. Upon opening the file however, Aragon was treated to a picture of Von Carstein, followed by an extensive bio, covering his tactics and crimes against death. It had gotten considerably heavier as well, and Aragon was soon engrossed in gleaning new information from the file.

"This is really quite good intel." Aragon said at last, closing it.

"It should be, we've got the best intelligence network in existence." Ajax said. He closed the bay doors before opening the airlock door. "Come on. I'm getting rather hungry, and I'm relatively certain that you wouldn't mind some food as well."

When the two Riders sat down, Aragon pushed the file to one side and said "What sort of weapons do you have onboard? I'd rather not go scrambling about on the Old World trying to get weapons, that sort of thing could get dicey quite quickly."

"I've got my twin .45s." Ajax replied. "I've got a powersword I built as a proof to myself that I could. I've got my Rider's sword thing. I have no clue what to call my weapon, to be honest. What sort of weapons do you need?"

"A shotgun, preferably." Aragon mumbled around his food.

Ajax nodded. "You want semi-fixed or portable?"

"Portable, obviously." Aragon said, looking at Ajax with something akin to annoyance in his eyes. "Are you implying that you _have_ semi-fixed?"

"Yep. Since you want portable though, I let you handle the portable, and Amaranth and I will use the semi-fixed."

"It takes two to work the thing right?" Aragon asked, an odd note in his voice, food forgotten.

"Sort of. I built a mounted shotgun, then put in on a slightly used hovercraft I obtained from the Bendians. By 'obtained'," here Ajax waved a few air quotes around. "I mean I stole the thing. I saw how nifty-useful it was, and beamed the whole thing aboard, complete with pilot. I then killed the pilot with an Enhanced Gamma Radiation Rifle or EGRR for short. A few industrial-grade scourgifies later, and I had what amounted to an almost new Blade."

"Blade?" Aragon asked.

"Yeah, that's what the Bendians called that class of hovercraft. The shotgun in question is something along the lines of a Gatling gun, designed with shotgun shells in mind. Nine barrels of ten-gauge destructive power, alternating between buckshot, explosive shot, and flaming shot. It's pretty much designed to screw up anything I point it at."

"Good." Aragon said in surprised approval. "Can you get me one of them as well?"

"Do we have a week's worth of time to wait while I build a second one?" Ajax asked seriously. "If so, yes. If not, then no, I can't."

"So much for going bug-hunting after this." Aragon deadpanned. "Look, we can't be doing anything that looks suspiciously out of place in this one. If we did, the Chaos Gods would piss their pants and launch an all-out assault on the Old World, and even I don't have the influence or the balls to call in the Grey Knights to mop that sort of mess up. So no skimmers, no fliers, orbital strike only if shit really hits the fan."

"Well, fuck." Ajax replied eloquently.

_"__Also, Mannfred's demise, though it might appease Death, is of secondary importance on this."_ Thelduin said, more of an extension of Aragon's line of thought than a separate statement_. "Our primary objective is to rescue the daughter of Finubar the Seafarer, the heiress to the position of Everqueen; Finubar has,-despite Aragon's protests that we aren't mercenaries and don't require payment,- stated we'll be generously rewarded if we're successful. Which in essence means he'll provide us with enough money to take care of the finance problems we'd otherwise have; with so few Riders, and with so few actually in Alagaesia, we're having to purchase supplies via Narda."_

"Bottom line is, we can only use magic and solid-shot weapons, and maybe some basic directed energy weapons like hot-shot lasguns for instance." Aragon said. "And considering this bastard is not only tough in his own right but capable of pulling an army out his arse at a moment's notice, I think we're going to have to go with one in, all in; I'm thinking we either bring Eragon and Murtgh along with us, or I requisition some extra muscle in the form of a squad of Blood Wolf Assault Marines." Aragon added.

"Damn." Ajax breathed. "I can fix the gold issue…a little bit, anyway. Eragon - the first Rider - left a hell of a lot of gold in a vault in Gringott's. There's also several ages worth of lore there, in his journals. I met with a watered-down version of his ghost, right outside the vault. He pressed down on my mark really hard, then granted access. Since I really don't want to bother with Chaos 'gods' shitting themselves, I'll leave the Blade up here. It _would_ be just a little hard to explain a hovercraft appearing out of nowhere, of course, it'll be hard to explain us appearing out of nowhere as well. I don't care what you say, this ship stays cloaked when we arrive."

"Speaking of arriving, when do we arrive?" Aragon asked, finishing the sandwich.

"When we get there." Ajax said, finishing his food. "You gave the coordinates to Phoenix, and she matched them with stellar cartography both here and there. We're traveling to the coordinates while we're in a relatively peaceful reality, then we'll change realities when we arrive. Unless you feel like we might need to bug out extremely quickly? Oh, and I think we should go with a squad of Blood Wolf Assault Marines if it's all the same to you. I highly doubt Eragon and Murtagh know the lay of the land so to speak."

"And you do?" Aragon asked, sarcastic incredulity lacing his tone.

"Slightly." Ajax replied. "Not much, but definitely more than those two. Look at it this way, _I'm_ feeling a little overwhelmed with the idea of going up against this Carstein fucker, Eragon and Murtagh aren't as strong as I am, in terms of sheer magical power, and don't have the benefit of some slightly amount of knowledge concerning what we're about to go into. No, tactically speaking, I think we need the squad of Marines."

"_You've actually thought this out, haven't you?"_ Thelduin asked. _"It's good to see you actually thinking now, previously, I wondered if you would be a liability on this mission."_

"Pretending that I didn't hear that," Ajax said, attempting to salvage his pride. "Another thing we can do is get ourselves a sensor sweep of the area, scanning for anything remotely representing this heiress to the position of Everqueen, then transport her up to the ship. Phoenix has been studying the medical library, and is at this point qualified to perform anything up to and including brain surgery…at least, by 21st century Earth standards. She should be able to deal with whatever injuries the heiress has acquired."

The bright blue tunnel of hyperspace disappeared, giving way to the darkness of normal space as a warning klaxon began to sound.

_Well reader, you have stumbled upon a collaborative work, being done by myself and Master of the Blood Wolves. He'll probably want to add something to this bit, but I just wanted to say that this is promising to be a wild ride, and I hope you'll leave a review! _

_A-yep, this is the Master of the Blood Wolves, and this is indeed a colaboration with Hideout Writer, involving both our OCs.  
>It was spawned with screwing around with some of the backstory that came up as a result of me letting them use Aragon and Thelduin.<br>Let's just say that Ajax and Aragon are fun personalities to have clash._


	2. Chapter 2

"The Blood Wolf idea is the contingency plan." Aragon said as they strode toward the bridge. "So long as we stay away from the Old World for now, we've got time to prepare, here..." Aragon trailed off and fished a flash-drive from one of the pouches on his belt, before pushing it into a terminal, then navigating to a map of the Old World.  
>"Princess Aliathra and her honour guard were ambushed here, near the Dwarf Hold of Karaz-a-Karak; Great Eagles that were flying escort at the time and escaped the massacre reported that it was a diabolically clever ambush, Mannfred von Carstein, Heinrich Kemmler and a Wight King known as Krell, the 'Lord of Undeath', managed to lure an orc tribe into wearing down the Princess's honour guard, then those three launched their assault. In the end, von Carstein killed her bodyguard, and Kemmler augmented one of three gigantic undead bats known as Terrorgheists taking part in the battle,-think 'Lethrblaka-zombie with a soul-shredding shriek' and you've got a Terrorgheist by the way,- and one of the more daring Eagles said they flew off south-westward; I'd figured that Mannfred must've been up to something by this, and I had a feeling it might be something like this, but trying to bring back Nagash is an ambitious move." Aragon added this last almost as an aside. "Fortunately, he didn't try and take down the Eagles...Probably thought that Finubar would blame the Dwarfs and would spark a diplomatic incident...which might very well happen if we don't hurry."<p>

"What was all the background for?" Amaranth asked, sitting down in the central chair. The meaning behind the action was clear: she was the one in charge.

Aragon glared briefly before speaking. "Getting there," Aragon said, irritated at being rushed. "Anyway, Zombie dragons, like the one Mannfred has got don't tire, but it'd take him two months straight to get from Karak-a-Karaz to Nehekhara, and the Eagles managed to get to Ulthuan in about three weeks thanks to a good tailwind and asking for help from the Wood Elves. Now, Plan A is a simple enough smash and grab: we drop down on von Carstein and the Terrorgheist, grab Aliathra and beam up and leave Carstein wondering just what the hell hit him." Aragon said. "Assault Marines aren't ideal for this, because their Jump Jets aren't meant for flight, just aerial insertion and rapid redeployment, and weighing roughly a tonne in their armour, as you'd imagine they don't fly too well.  
>"So, my plan is that you and Eragon distract von Carstein,-you go after Edward Cullen's worst nightmare, Saphira and Eragon stall the undead dragon, and Murtagh and I kill the Terrorgheist,-Thelduin and I will get Aliathra because we can get that close and away again before the Terrorgheist can kill us, and Murtagh and Thorn can hit it between the wings; of course, I'll have to warn him that these things are usually filled with swarms of blood-hungry bats, but I'm sure he'll cope. Anyway, after I've got the princess, we bug out, then we head for Ulthuan, where Eragon and I will reunite the Princess with her father."<p>

"So we do all the work, you get all the credit." Ajax stated, grinning slightly. "Also, I'm guessing that I'm not allowed to fly around under my own power…winged humans would probably look a little out of place, leading to CSTS, or Chaos Shit Themselves Syndrome."

"No, it's just that the Asur aren't as friendly towards humans as the elves of Du Weldenvarden, and they'd likely only give Eragon and I a hearing because we're A, Riders and B, have been named Elf-friends and have proof of it." Aragon explained patiently, flashing the silver-and-emerald ring on his right index finger, Phoenii. "Also, Eragon's looking like an elf won't hurt things either. It's just easier if we play the elves' game; the humans of the Empire and the other human realms have done little enough to make the Asur credit them."

"Who says we even have to engage them in combat whatsoever? Why not just give Phoenix the parameter set that matches our target, transport her to the ship, then you can escort her from there. Since we can stay cloaked without blowing relays like popcorn for about a week, it should be not trouble to drop in, beam her out, put the two of you on the surface near where she should be, get you back onboard and bug out again. Hell, for that matter, I could grab Carstein and scatter his constituent atoms across several parsecs of space, and anyone else I feel like doin it to. That'd be the fastest method, and we wouldn't have to worry about getting ourselves into a fight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea of a fight, but right now, I'm not exactly at my best. I've been sipping some sort of pink mojito for however long it is I've been on vacation. My head is still buzzing *ever* so pleasantly, and I'm not certain I trust my fighting skills at the moment." Ajax said, sitting down at the controls.  
>Aragon handed Ajax a small dull grey capsule.<br>"That'll sober you up like nothing else will." Aragon said, handing Ajax his hip flask.  
><em>"And remember what Aragon said about things that are 'suspiciously out of place'?" That qualifies, but if you want to have several million unnecessary deaths on your conscience, we'll do things your way."<em> Thelduin said with a shrug of seeming indifference.  
><em>'That was just evil.' <em>Aragon said approvingly to Thelduin in private._ 'Why didn't I think of playing on his conscience like that?'_

"You mean to say that if I spread itty-bitty pieces of Carstein across the black and beam the princess to one of my 302 bays that I'd be condemning several million souls? How the HELL does that manage to trace back to us, and why won't that happen if we personally drop in and flip shit on them?" After glowering at the grey dragon for several seconds, Ajax accepted the pill, but refused the hip flask, choosing to wash it down with water from his own bottle. "I'm not paid enough for this shit, and we still don't know why the ship has been forced out of hyperspace."

So saying, Ajax initiated a series of scans, and settled back in the chair.  
>A moment later, alarms began wailing again as a ship de-cloaked, firing on the Phoenix as the last of it's invisibility faded away.<br>"Aragon? We have a hell of a problem here. Sit down at Tactical, buckle up, and start shooting at that ship, NOW!" Ajax ordered. "That's a Klingon vessel, looks like an K'Tinga class vessel. We are officially outclassed in size, so START SHOOTING, DAMN IT!"  
>So saying, Ajax turned the yoke hard over, flipping the ship before pulling back hard on the yoke.<br>Taken off-guard by Ajax's commanding tone, Aragon did as he was told, and the Asgard beam weaponry was swiftly used to hew an asteroid into several smaller pieces.  
>"I thought I gave you a Vortex Warhead after that business in Comorragh? What the hell did you use that on?" Aragon asked, perusing through the weapon options.<br>"Vortex Warhead? No such thing ever came on board this vessel, not according to the logs, at least. A little something I found out is that just because you thought something was done doesn't mean that it actually happened. And if I had ever been in possession of such a weapon, it would have been used against an Orkulus Starbase. Owned and operated by the Vasari, a somewhat reptilian race, the Orkulus is a mean starbase when fully built up, and the damned thing kinda moves around a gravity well just because it wants to. I popped it like a very large zit. I have no nukes, and I don't know what MAC cannons are."  
>"MAC cannons are Halo's UNSC main ship-to-ship weapon, I woulda thought you at least played that series." Aragon said, opening up the weapon program for the Asgard cannons and plotting in the necessary vectors. "And those Vasari wouldn't happen to have their homeworld near the Karina Nebula would they?" Aragon asked curiously.<br>Ajax could tell by the older Rider's tone that it was an inquiry that carried some weight.  
>"Never went to Halo, never played the games either." Ajax said, silencing an alarm. "I have no clue where the Vasari are from. However, from the peace talks that I had the pleasure of mediating, they are running from something that wiped out their empire long ago. Something overwhelmed one of their worlds...it simply fell off the communications grid, then another four went down, followed by their homeworld. They recalled the Dark Fleet to battle this strange threat, loosing more and more worlds as the unknown foe advanced, then, at one of the colonies at the outskirts of their once-formidable empire, one of their capital ships emerged from phase space. The colonists went on board, and found a battle hardened crew, the best of the best, driven mad with fear. The colony made it's first major decision shortly thereafter."<br>"What did they do?" Aragon asked, thinking hard. There weren't many factions that could drive the best of the best to being mad with fear, and he hoped it was one he already knew, not a new major threat to deal with.  
>"The colony packed up and fled. All out. I have no clue how many times they rebuilt their phase drives, but they would stop only long enough to build new ships, gather the needed supplies, and then flee again, leaving naught but a trail of warning beacons. Only the most recent ones are still online and transmitting. Something I should tell you about Vasari equipment...they build stuff to last. Their emergency transmitters will keep going until destroyed or turned off, with an estimated life of about ten thousand years. You can't just destroy one of these things, either. They can withstand hundred of meteor strikes, and only a sustained assault with the Asgard beam weaponry I've got would have a hope of denting them. Something or someone is eating these beacons like candy...or bread crumbs...damn."<br>"What is it?" Aragon asked.  
>"Let's say those beacons are dog treats, and this unseen enemy is a dog. What happens when the dog gets to the end of the trail, and finds a massive pile of steaks?" Ajax asked rhetorically. "The Vasari are screwed if they can't keep going, and the Advent and TEC are even more screwed."<br>"Advent?" Aragon asked. "TEC?"  
>"TEC is Trader Emergency Coalition, which is probably the strongest government that Trader space has ever seen. Prior to the dual threat presented by the Advent and the Vasari, the worst the Traders had to worry about was pirates. There was no real government, just a short list of guidelines that each so-called Trader world was to abide by. Nobody outside of that world cared what happened on that world, so long as it didn't interfere with trade. Planetary governments were usually fair, and having someone called out before the board was relatively rare. Usually, it was only in cases of extreme tyranny, and it was always resolved quickly."<p>

Ajax explained. "They were the worst off-guard for this. The Advent had been discovered about four hundred years ago, hopped up on drugs and plugging in technology that strange effects on their society. They are able to use what they've referred to as psi abilities, some of which allow them to interface directly with their vessels. They have an odd sort of collective sense that has managed to maintain the sense of being an individual, and from within, they call themselves the Unity. They specialize in psychic abilities, and some of their best Adepts can even overwhelm enemy cruiser crews, converting them to the Advent. They tend to use directed energy weapons, while the TEC tends towards ballistic weaponry with some directed energy weapons for flavor, and the Vasari specialize in nano-related studies, using their nanites as weapons to fill the gaps presented by their current directed energy weapons. That answer anything?"

Another impact shuddered the ship.  
>"Fire in the hole you bastards." Aragon muttered and fired a full salvo at the Klingon ship.<br>He smirked with satisfaction as the beam weapons smashed through the shield system and the missiles turned the hull to so much slag.  
>"Well, from what was relevant of what you said, the Vasari weren't the ones the Mymeara Eldar went to war against a couple of thousand years ago. My guess is that whatever is chasing them are either Necron or Tyranid, or that reality's version of them at any rate; anyway, plot let's get Eragon and Murtagh together, then lets go and ruin Mannfred's day."<br>"Yeah, first, this ship needs help." Ajax replied. "Based off of some of the stuff I'm reading here, they did a number on our forward section...some sections aren't even accessible at the moment, exposed to space, weapons in that area not working, doors not even working in certain compartments. They managed to collapse the shields and take out...hmm, looks like they got five tubes. No, Mannfred will have to wait until we get that fixed, I'm not going into battle missing just shy of half my missile launch tubes."  
>There was a brief pulse, and the vessel lurched into hyperspace, heading back to Earth. "As I recall, you know some sort of spell that allows you to go pretty much wherever you want so long as there's an arch on either end, right?"<br>At Aragon's nod, Ajax continued. "Okay, so then you get Murtagh and Eragon, while the people at the shipyard try to put the nose back together. I estimate something along the lines of a six-hour layover."  
>Aragon looked at Ajax in surprise. "For the amount of damage you showed me? Only six hours?"<br>"I have one word to answer that with, Aragon." Ajax replied mock sagely. "Alchemy."  
>"Let's go get Eragon, then I'll go get Murtagh; him and Thorn will probably jump at any chance to get away from looking after those hatchlings." Aragon said with a look that was half tender affection part grimace at personal knowledge of the hatchlings' antics.<br>"You're leaving my yearmates to fend for themselves?" Asked Amaranth with an accusatory tone.  
>"They've got the eldunari to look after them, and beyond that, they've also got Cuaroc to guard them. And he's taken to the Wraithlord chasis I begged from the Eldar for him with a vengance; it turns out dragons love heavy firepower, and it's not just Thelduin." Aragon said offhandedly.<br>Beyond that, several of the elves who guarded Eragon during the Varden Campaign volunteered to lend their help, and let me tell you, keeping the ten wild hatchlings we're currently caring for out of mischief is no sinecure. If they're not trying to hunt Snalgli as big as or bigger than themselves, they're trying to hunt whales and meeting up with Nidwhals. Thankfully we've eradicated those Fleshborer creatures Galbatorix dubbed burrowgrubs, so there's something. Thelduin added.  
>"So the hatchlings won't be alone, and we've yet to have any apprentices to give us grief, so things are running about as smoothly as we can get them to." Aragon said. "And if you're quite finished after this is over, maybe you'd care to lend a hand with that." He added pointedly.<br>"Actually, Aragon, I wouldn't care." Ajax replied. "I'm here on orders from Death. You'll need something a little bigger than bringing the Riders back to entice me to Alagaesia again." He looked at Amaranth, who was in her dragon form again, licking her chops as she thought about Snalgli. "Ah, cripes." he said.  
>"What?" Aragon asked, looking at the expression on his face.<br>"Amaranth." Ajax said slowly. "Likes eating Snalgli."  
>Aragon's features slowly spread into an evil smile as he realized what the younger Rider was referring to. "Looks like you're coming back after all." he said happily.<br>"Not bloody likely." Ajax muttered, punching in a few commands. He read the data, then said, "I think there are snails just like em on Jek'al."  
>"Now arriving, Earth." Ajax intoned as the ship left hyperspace. "We're going in with a damaged vessel, so everyone buckle up tight and hold on. We haven't got inertial dampers online, shields are weak, and we've got a few holes in the hull. Look out below, cause here we go!"<br>Amaranth changed again after jumping off her Rider's shoulders, and sat in the central chair. Aragon, who had been standing near the digital mapping table towards the rear of the bridge, sat down at tactical once again, and Thelduin made herself comfortable on Aragon's lap.

The ship entered the atmosphere, and then the shaking truly began. A console worked itself loose in a shower of sparks, and the existing holes in the nose of the ship opened even more in the face of the wind it was facing. Emergency bulkheads all over the ship sealed themselves as alarms all over the bridge went off.  
>"How did that saying go again?" Ajax shouted over the alarms. "A good landing is..." he trailed off, concentrating on surviving the worst part of the landing.<br>The ship was bucking like a thing possessed for several long moments before Ajax wrenched back on they yoke with a savage growl, and the ride smoothed out somewhat for several seconds.  
>The speeds were swiftly dropping, and Ajax toggled the switch for the landing gear. Moments later, the Phoenix settled into a repair bay, and the engines shut down entirely.<p>

"Oh yeah." Ajax said, shutting off the alarms. "I remember now. A good landing is one you can walk away from."

Aragon shook his head, and staggered off the bridge as if he were drunk. "I'd appreciate luxury landings next time, Ajax." he said, pausing at the door. "If this was good, I want best."

"Okay." Ajax replied, acting like an innocent six year old.

"Alright, I'll go talk with Saphira. Then I'm going to have a stiff drink. And then I am going to get Murtagh. After that it'll be gear, a quick bite to eat, and then we go and ruin Mannfred's day." So saying, he shrugged his staff from across his shoulders and made a more creditable and dignified exit from the bridge than he might otherwise have done.  
>"And I wouldn't be surprised if that screwed up one or two systems, you might want to do a full diagnostic while you're fixing things!" Aragon called as he made his way down the stairs.<p>

"Hey! What can I say?" Ajax shouted from his seat. "She's had a few...unauthorized...modifications done over the years." He scrambled out of his seat and went to follow Aragon. "She's been due for a refit for some time now...maybe we should take the Odyssey instead. Stargate Command will want to give her a full refit, and that's going to take some time, more than we've got if I'm not mistaken." Ajax said.

"And the Odyssey is...?" Aragon probed.

"Better armed and armored, as well as all around faster. Word on the street is that she's got no less than three Zero Points backing up her main powerplant." Ajax replied proudly.

"Zero Points?" Aragon asked.

"Short for Zero Point Module. Atlantis takes three...most of the time. When we brought her here, she had something like four and a quarter...give or take. The fifth was at least halfway empty when we left." Ajax explained.

Aragon nodded his understanding. "So...the Odyssey then, huh?"

"Yep, she's a little different, and can't drive on her own, but she does have all around better equipment when it's all said and done."

"Won't Phoenix here be insulted that we aren't taking her along?" Aragon asked, remembering the life form in the computers.

"Naw, she needs the TLC time, and it's about time she got it." Ajax replied. "Everyone else has been taking vacations it seems, why not her?"  
>The two Riders paused while Ajax flicked his card through a reader at a high security door. It buzzed, clicked, and then opened to reveal a ladder, completely retracted.<p>

"Right, forgot to drop the ladder." Ajax muttered to himself. A moment later, Aragon heard the buzzing of motors, and the ladder began dropping down, stopping with a clang of metal on concrete.

The two Riders exited the belly of the ship, and Ajax walked around to the nose of the ship. "Damn." he said softly. "They chewed you a new one, didn't they?"

Aragon joined him in surveying the damage, then said. "Well, let's get to it then."

"Yeah...how you you go get Murtagh, and I'll get Eragon myself, since Atlantis and the SGC headquarters are in the same place at the moment?" Ajax asked.

"There's a reason I said I'd have a word with Saphira." Aragon replied. "That reason being she can get Eragon to do virtually anything, and I won't have to argue with him." Then he gave Ajax a baleful look. "And no, not everyone has been on holiday; Murtagh and myself, not to mention six or seven elves have been working seven days a week for the past eight months taking care of those hatchlings." Aragon added. "And now that most of them are nearing maturity, we're about to hatch the next ten or so. We're pretty much booked for a long while yet unless we get a few more people capable of babysitting."

Ajax fidgeted under Aragon's gaze. "I'm not doing it." He said obstinately.

"Oh, yes, Amaranth, the Snalgli population is very healthy at the moment, and Thelduin informs me hunting for them is bountiful, but as we get more hatchlings to care for, the pickings are going to slim considerably." Aragon said as Amaranth descended gracefully from the Phoenix.

Ajax narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't..." He said.

"Only way it appears I'm going to get anything done at present in regards to that situation." Aragon replied shortly, as he made his way towards the main compound.

"I think I can corral Eragon into coming, rather easily." Ajax said, keeping stride with the older Rider. "All I have to do is tell him who I work for. Having Death owe you one is a pretty big thing, far bigger than anything _you_ could come up with." Ajax had a smug smile on his face as his said this, but a moment later he wondered if it was such a good idea to say it the way he had.

Aragon stopped cold and a paroxism of pure fury hit Ajax square between the temples, and he felt two hot tracks at his tear ducts as he began to weep blood.

Thelduin and Amaranth had taken off in alarm, and Aragon's staff had gone lambent with power.  
>A furious wind sprang up from nowhere and whipped up dust, as well as Aragon's ever-present grey cloak.<br>The lambent energy that had engulfed Aragon's staff brightened, and Ajax was forced to turn away or risk blindness.  
>A roar of anger made him snap back around as a wall of displaced air buffeted him, and before he knew what had happened, he was pinned by the slate-grey talons of a dragon fifteen feet longer than Saphira, and correspondingly bigger in proportion.<p>

Over where his great heart was located was a vicious scar, but Ajax's attention was focused on the dragon's oddly human eyes, which were blazing with righteous fury.

"I stopped a Chaos Incursion that would have seen Alagaesia, this world, the Old World and every other plane of existence you'd care to mention overrun with hellspawn." Growled the dragon's voice, oddly calm. "In the process, I was shattered, mind body and soul, along with the being closest to my heart, and those fragments coalesced into exact copies; I am one such, and I am cursed to never have what I truly desire. You have no idea what you and everything else in existence owes me, BOY." The last was said with contempt, and emphasized by the dragon pressing it's talons into the tarmac and compressing Ajax's chest, breaking a couple of ribs.

"I. Owe. Nothing." Ajax hissed. "Chaos has not, will not, and cannot, overrun this reality. I may be just a boy, but I do know things. Fate dealt you a hell of a hand, I get it. She's a bitch. even Bill thinks she's a bitch, and he's her brother, better known as Death. Now. Release me before I pull a stunt of my own."  
>Somehow, despite the fact that Ajax had barely whispered, the other three beings in the area heard him loud and clear.<p>

"I could snap your bones and pulp your flesh with the barest tremor of my arm muscles at present, and you would do well to learn humility." Another sun bright flare and Aragon was standing over Ajax, his face a mask and his eyes alive with barely checked anger.

"There are some things so far worse than death you couldn't fathom them. And until you've fallen in love and had your love torn away from you by chance, and then later learn after being shattered that you, as a fragment, and not the original shall never see them again, nor know their fate, I doubt you'll ever fathom just what I am owed in terms of fate's favor." Wheeling about, Aragon stormed towards the base, clearing his path with short, pointed looks at the guards.  
>Thelduin cast a half pitying, half contemptuous gaze at Ajax, then followed after Aragon, without comment.<p>

Ajax healed himself in a theatrical manner, even managing to pull off a minor shockwave of magical energy. "I can't love." he said quietly. "I don't have the ability. So you're right, I'll never know just what you're owed. I can laugh and cry, but I can never experience true love, even with my bond. I see everyone around me, they all manage to find the person that's right for them, and I see their displays of affection for each other. Amaranth and I...familial love is as close as it gets, as if we were brother and sister, nothing more!" Ajax's voice had been rising in volume until the outburst at the end. He calmed himself, and spoke again.

"Look, I'm sorry about what you've lost. Still, I wish I could be in your place, having loved and lost rather not be allowed to love at all. At least then there'd be...something. I need to go find a ship." Ajax growled the last sentence out, flashed blue and disappeared before Aragon could do anything to alter his course.  
>Aragon stalked down the halls, navigating by the sun-bright life force of a dragon.<p>

His garb was attracting odd looks from the air force personnel in the base but as the air temperature literally dropped a few degrees in his presence, due to the fact he was just barely checking his temper, and his powers were affected accordingly, no one dared pass comment.  
>Thelduin landed on Aragon's shoulder and coiled her tail around his shoulders comfortingly.<p>

Ajax arrived in the Gate Room in a flash of blue, and bounded up the stairs, pushing his recent encounter with Aragon to the back of his mind. He knocked on one of the briefing room panels, and as Angel was inside, she knew who it was and opened the door.  
>"Hey everyone, miss me?" Ajax asked, a grin on his face. "I need to borrow a ship, preferably the Odyssey if I can."<p>

"What for?" Landry asked, looking up from his files.

"Well, I ran into a Klingon K'Tinga, bout an hour past Chulak." Ajax replied. "I got forced out of hyperspace, and from there, we looked at each other, we fought, I left intact. They did fire first, just so you know."

"And why do you want the Odyssey?" Landry asked.

"Because I've been just shy of forced into a rather dangerous mission, the Odyssey is the only other ship with the means to survive the mission, and the Phoenix needs some down time with a refit crew." Ajax replied.

"Permission granted." Landry said dismissively, looking back at his files. He looked up again after a moment. "What? I trust you. Take the ship, go, come back in one piece, and don't make us fix that one too."

"Yes Sir!" Ajax replied happily. He left the room before apparating to the pier where Saphira usually sat waiting.

"I thought I said I'd take care of getting Eragon and Murtagh." Aragon stated coldly.

"You did." Ajax replied. "And I'm not here to talk to them. I've secured the Odyssey. Unless you intend to bring Murtagh and Thorn through the gate, we'll have to leave them behind. It would take Odyssey three weeks to get there and back, while Phoenix could have done it in four days. I also came to apologize. What I said was...disrespectful at best, and I'm sorry for pushing it the way I did. Odyssey has a full crew complement, so Saphira and Thorn will need to be rather small, as both 302 bays are occupied by the 302 squads." Ajax clicked on his radio. "Ajax to Odyssey, one for transport." With those words, Ajax vanished into a white-blue cloud of transport energy.

_Hideout Writer's A/N: Okay, so we've done another chapter, getting to see what Aragon is like when angered. I almost feel sorry for Ajax after that. Anyway, review!_  
><em>Master of the Blood Wolves' A\N: Another chapter done. For those interested, this is being written using the PM system, so there might be some shaky structure.<em>  
><em>Also, if Aragon appears to be acting OOC, that's because it's nearly ten years post-fall in his timeframe, and also it's a doppelganger of Aragon, not the actual.<em>  
><em>Okay, so review after reading, and we'll get back to you ASAP with another chapter.<em>


	3. Chapter 3

Aragon sighed in exasperation."Great." He said.

_Problems? _Saphira asked.

Aragon took a moment to cool his temper slightly, then briefly explained the spat with Ajax.

_You were well within your rights to do that and more. _Saphira stated. _It was quite possibly the most tactless thing he's ever done to my knowledge._

Aragon reflected a sympathetic ear was a brilliant temper restorer."Back on subject, we've got an elven princess to save from a vampire count, a zombified dragon, and a gigantic undead bat; hence why Ajax is here. We're going to need yours' and Eragon's help along with Murtagh's and Thorn's." Aragon said.

_We'll be waiting. _Saphira promised.

"You don't want to hear the details?" Aragon asked.

_I don't need to. _Saphira replied simply.

Aragon shrugged, then took his leave, heading for the gateroom.

He returned several hours later with Murtagh and a hatchling-sized Thorn riding on his shoulder.

Saphira swiftly changed to become roughly the same size as Thorn, though she said that she preferred to ride on Eragon's shoulder rather than Murtagh's shoulder.

Interaction between them was freezing polite, but neither of them looked ready to tear each other's heart out, so Aragon didn't attempt to dispel the tension between them.

A moment later, Ajax appeared in a flash of light.

"Everyone's here then?" he asked dully. "Ajax to _Odyssey_, transport four." When the four Rider's appeared on the observation deck, Ajax turned to leave. "You're wanted on the bridge Aragon, so you can give the captain information regarding universe, coordinates, what sort of opposition to expect, that sort of thing. Eragon, Murtagh, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping while on board the ship."

Eragon and Murtagh followed Ajax out of the observation room, but not before Ajax heard Aragon say "This isn't over, Ajax."

Ten minutes later, Ajax was holed up in his quarters, attempting to sleep while Aragon was pointing at various spots of interest on the digital mapping table that the _Odyssey_ had recently been equipped with. The ship seamlessly shifted into the 40k verse with barely more than a whisper to mark it's passage, still in hyperspace.

Three days later, the ship emerged from hyperspace, engaging it's cloak almost at once. With all the residual hyperspace radiation in the area from the Odyssey's arrival, the cloak was not as effective as it could be, but nearly half an hour at sublight easily solved the issue before anything serious could investigate.

"Mission specialists, you are on your own after this." The captain said, looking at the four Riders arrayed before him on the bridge. "The only thing you can count on us for is extraction when you've finished the mission. Good luck."

With that, he looked over at the colonel sitting at tactical. He nodded and pushed the required buttons, resulting in an odd falling sensation in these stomachs of the four Riders and their dragons.

A moment later, the feeling disappeared and they could see the scenery around them again.

"Why did it feel like we were falling?" Aragon asked.

"Tactical insertion." Ajax replied. "Five times faster, but it leaves the feeling of falling. I asked for tactical insertion because people appearing all of a sudden might look out of place, and I wanted it done quickly. We could have ringed down."

"Whoever heard of a ship you couldn't use for a HALO drop?" Aragon asked rhetorically, looking around the semi-arid wasteland they found themselves in.

"Where are we?" Asked Eragon. He was clad in chainmail, and looked ready to fight, and to Aragon's eye he looked very much like he'd be able to pass himself as either a knight of Bretonia at a distance, or a Dragon Rider of Ulthuan upon closer inspection until he opened his mouth.

"Welcome to the Old World." Aragon said. "We're currently in the Badlands, and the closest thing I can call in all honesty a landmark would be..." Aragon looked around, his eyes on the horizon. He brightened. "Mount Bloodthorn, over west there." Aragon said, indicating a rearing fang low on the western horizon. "As you know we're going after a vampire count to rescue an elven princess." He continued as Thelduin switched her size to her adult size. "Then, we're going to fly like hell northwestward, we'll make for the Empire, and from there the coast." He said as he swung up to the saddle high upon Thelduin's back.

"Empire?" Asked Murtagh sharply.

"Nothing like Galbatorix's little conquest; his realm would constitute a province to the elector counts, and besides we shouldn't draw too much attention, but we're going to have to be careful; this world can go from 'peaceful' to 'ridiculously hostile' in a matter of moments."

"So where do we go first?" Ajax asked.

Aragon pointed eastwards, and when Eragon, Ajax and Murtagh looked eastwards, they felt a shiver pass down their spines, while the four dragons growled and shifted restlessly.

In the eastern sky, cast into sharp relief by the setting sun was a fast-moving black mass, below which two terrible barbed forms flew southeastwards."We're going to fly above that mass,-which is actually a cloud of bats if you're interested,-and then we're going to dive-bomb those two barbed things. One will be a zombified dragon with a easily angered and dangerous vampire riding it; that is Mannfred von Carstein; be careful, he has an artifact in his possession that in effect makes him as unkillable as Ajax, speaking of, Ajax, Eragon, you'll be going after him and the zombie dragon, Murtagh, you and I will go after the Terrorgheist, it'll probably be infested with bats, so keep your helmet on, and when you wound it, be prepared to blast it with fire or be swarmed with bloodthirsty bats, Thelduin and I will see to grabbing the princess; be prepared to fly like hell as soon as I give the word; and one last thing: don't fight fair, and show no mercy, because you'll recieve none." Aragon finished. "Any questions?"

"None that can't wait until later." Murtagh said after a quick consultation with Thorn.

Eragon looked like he wanted to ask several, but thought better of it a moment later.

Aragon had a feeling it had something to do with Saphira.

"Alright, let's go." With this, Thelduin launched herself skywards as Aragon pulled his full-faced stormtrooper helm over his head, before engaging the seals so it would lock with his powered carapace armour.

_"Why are we doing this again?" _Eragon asked.

_"Because, we're Riders, and thwarting evil is what we do, and most everyone here is too busy bickering to deal with this particular attempt to drown the world in evil." _Aragon replied.

Ajax wound himself up before flinging himself into the sky, Amaranth following right behind.

After a full roll right and a full roll left, Ajax decided he was ready, and initiated mental contact with Eragon._"Saphira is a better flier for her size class than Amaranth is. I'll be engaging the Mannfred personally, I want you to evade the zombie dragon thingie." _so saying, Ajax withdrew from Eragon's mind, and went into overdrive, swiftly moving forward through the burnt air.

Saphira surged after him, and Amaranth hitched a ride on Saphira's back while Aragon and Murtagh moved to deal with the Terrorgheist.

As soon as Ajax was directly above the zombie dragon, he turned slightly in the air, pointed straight down for a moment before his wings folded in and he allowed a shriek of war to escape

Mannfred looked up, obviously surprised. What he saw caused his eyes to widen, and he had his sword out of his sheath in an eyeblink.

Ajax looked at the sword for a moment. "Meh." he said, freeing his shotguns.

Mannfred looked at the weapons for a moment, before he heard the distinctive roar of two shotguns going off. The blast didn't faze the vampire ruler, and Ajax curled a wing and moved out of the dragon's range. One of his blades flashed out, carving out a hole in the dragon's side, before returning to it's sheath as Ajax placed a special package inside the new hole._"Aragon?" _Ajax asked mentally. _"You asked about a Vortex warhead at one point. Well, it never got logged because I disassembled it to find out how it works."_

_"What's your point?" _Aragon growled out.

_"Well, it's like this. I was saving up a sizable supply of smaller Vortex units derived from the original Warhead." _Ajax admitted sheepishly. _"I was saving them against something I didn't think I could properly deal with. I don't think I can properly deal with this thing, but it's on a remote, so if you don't want me to blow the zombie and the vampire out of the sky, tell me now or forever hold your peace."_

Aragon spared a glance for the quartet going after Mannfred as Ajax unloaded a pair of rounds into the vampire lord point blank. _"That's not going to stop him." _Aragon said resignedly as Mannfred bisected one of the weapons with the huge sword he'd drawn with unnatural speed. _"Just keep him from casting any spells and we'll be fine."_

_"You could have mentioned he can shrug off normal weapons!" _Ajax exclaimed.

Aragon wanted to reply that Ajax obviously hadn't read too much on vampiric lore, but Thorn had just blindsided the Terrorgheist, which had stopped dead in midair to gaze with empty eye sockets as Saphira barrelled into the undead dragon Mannfred rode searing rotten flesh from it's flank with her flaming breath.

Thorn however, refrained from attempting to burn the abomination from existence, instead swivelling in midair to attack the Terrorgheist from behind, allowing Aragon to leap from Thelduin's back onto the rib-cage of the Terrorgheist. He was instantly grateful for his armour as the bats within the Terrorgheist immediately began to try and consume his fingers, and had no luck getting through the nigh-impregnable ceramite. Hooking a grapple around one of the ribs, Aragon swung down and grabbed hold of one of the Terrorgheist's legs.

In it's talons was clutched a she-elf who Aragon would've put at somewhere around thirty or so.

Drawing Illumeo, Aragon carefully worked his way down the Terrorgheist's leg a little further, and was forced to bat aside it's other clawed foot as it attempted to rid itself of it's probably insane boarder. _"Thelduin, catch!" _Aragon called as he thumbed an activation stud on Illumeo's hilt, causing crackling azure lightning to flicker over the blade.

With a bellow, Aragon cleaved the Terrorgheist's foot off, sending fragments of bone and burning flesh flying.

The Terrorgheist loosed a soul-shredding shriek of pain and fury as it attempted to bat Aragon away, temporaily drawing clear of Thorn's attempts to keep it occupied.

Several fast-moving black blurs began slamming into Aragon over and over again._"Oh, not good." _Aragon thought as he realised he was being mobbed by bats that had been roosting in the Terrorgheist's leg.

Retracting the grappel, Aragon watched as far below, Thelduin caught the Terrorgheist's claw."Alright, now catch me!" Aragon said as he sheathed Illumeo and jumped from the Terrogheist's leg, rolling aside from a slashing talon.

_"It's coming after you!"_ Murtagh shouted.

_"Well, deal with it!" _Aragon replied as he pulled his arms and legs in, increasing the distance between himself and the undead monstrosity._"Okay, Thelduin, come on from the side, just in case this thing-"_

The distilled screaming of the damned cascaded into Aragon's psyche as the Terrorgheist unleashed it's death-shriek at the free-falling screamed once in agony, then blacked out as Ajax began babbling something regarding a vortex warhead.

"Damn." Ajax whispered, seeing Aragon falling. "Plan C, then." he thumbed a switch on his belt as he reversed course. He began broadcasting mentally to everything in range._"Scaretale!"_ he screamed. His armor appeared around him, and he detonated the small package. It had been improved upon in terms of the area of effect, maybe a little too much, as it barely did anything to the hindquarters of the zombie dragon. In the meantime, a ghost guitar was crackling with electricity on Ajax's back, thundering through the introduction to a song.

Amranth also began broadcasting to everything with a mind, overwhelming anything of lesser strength. Her voice would have reminded Aragon of a stereotype witch from Earth, had he been awake to hear it._"Once upon a time in a daymare,dying to meet you, little child, enter this for bed, the cradle still rocks13 chimes on a dead man's clock,tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock."_At this point, anything sane would have been flying in fear, even if they couldn't fly originally. The voice she was using had such a sinister edge that had even Eragon a little nervous.

Amranth continued unperturbed while Ajax hacked sections off of the zombie dragon's tail._"The bride will lure you, cook you, eat 're dear innocence boiled to feed the evil in need of farms and squealing pigsa pool of snakes to swim withoh sweet poison, bite me, bite me…"_Her terrible voice trailed off as Ajax caught Mannfred's sword dead in the stomach section. He doubled over, falling off the zombie dragon, winded. The armor had saved him from an embarrassing moment in battle. Now it was his turn to project at the minds around him._"Ladies and gentlemen!" _he roared mentally. _"Be heartlessly welcome! To Cirque De Morgue! And what a show we have for you tonight! Restless souls will put on their dancing shoes. Mindless ghouls with lots of limbs to lose, contortionists, Tightrope-walkers, tightening the noose."_

The music hit a crescendo as Ajax and Amaranth flew about in chaotic patterns, laughing nearly a minute of the crazed laughter, during which Ajax managed to tackle Mannfred off of his dragon while he made a pass at Amaranth, the green dragon began singing again._"Hordes of spiders, closet tentacles, Laughing harpies with their talons ripping, Sher-chrisss, per-viz, The pendulum still swings for you, Such are the darks here to show you, child in a corner, Fallen mirrors, all the kingdom in cinders."_As Mannfred fell, Ajax slowed the vampire's descent, wearing disguised armor. "Need a lift back to your flying mount?" he vampire looked at him, confused for a split second, which enabled Ajax to cut off the vampire's ring finger with a silver potions knife. Ajax removed the finger from the loop while moving away from Mannfred as quickly as possible, which turned out to be simply opening his wings and letting the wind carry him away from Mannfred's reach.

He shoved the ring into the barrel of the shotgun that hadn't been neatly bisected by a large sword, saying "Hmm, I always wanted a modified choke."

He placed the weapon in a pocket dimension as the vampire fell, watching Amaranth coat the zombie dragon in crystalline fire._"Looks like Murtagh could use some help with that Terror-doohikie-thingamajig." _Ajax told Amaranth, after deactivating the mental amplifier. _"__I'm going for Aragon, and I'm popping the jump. Don't let it hit you, and remember what they taught us in Japan...I don't think they can hit what's not there."_

So saying, Ajax chased Aragon's falling form towards the ground, managing to magnetically latch on to Aragon's armor before firing the jump jets. Five seconds later, they were clear of the battle-zone, and Ajax managed to almost gracefully deposit the unconscious Rider on the ground. A mere two seconds later and he made a graceless landing face-first into the ground, having been unable to pull out in time.

"Aragon, you sonofabitch." Ajax muttered. "You hauled me out of a rather pleasant retirement, so I'm damned sure I'm not letting you go there until this fucked up clusterfucking resemblance to a horror movie is finished." So saying, he popped the seals on Aragon's helmet, before taking the chest-plate off.

"Now, how did this go again...oh, yeah." Ajax grimaced, then placed his hands on Aragon's chest, directly above his heart. "I, Ajax Kingkiller, do of my own free will offer my life to save this man's soul. On my magic, SO MOTE IT BE!" Ajax roared the last part to the heavens, and a blinding flash of light leaped from Ajax's heart to Aragon's, healing all traces of the damage Aragon had taken within the past several minutes.

Aragon returned to consciousness just in time to see Ajax slump over, blood falling from his eyes like tears, not breathing."Damn it Ajax." Aragon said. "What have you done this time?"

Thelduin was instantly in Aragon's head relaying the whole.

"The _one_ mission I tell him was 'nothing out of the ordinary'...and he goes and does _that_." Groused Aragon.

_"We_ _got_ _Aliathra_ _though."_ Thelduin consoled.

A loud _thwump_, closely followed by the sound of breaking bones made Aragon glance around to see a small crater had been excavated by something man-sized falling from the sky at terminal velocity.

Drawing his bolt pistol, as well as Illumeo, Aragon approached the crater.

As he reached the lip, a scream of inhuman fury issued from the middle of the crater, and in the middle of a dark mist, a figure reformed. The mist dropped away to reveal a figure in blood-red armour with a massive sword in hand, and a pale, bloodless face with sunken eyes reflecting a terrible hunger, boundless cruelty and all consuming anger, and extended canines protruding from it's upper jaw.

Suddenly, Aragon was feeling almost naked without his chestplate and helm.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, MORTAL!" Screamed the vampire lord, charging at Aragon, faster than a normal human could react, sword raised for a killing blow.

Aragon was no normal human however, and managed to fire off three shots, two of which just missed and the third of which slammed into the vampire count's chest, leaving a smoking dent in it's armour.

_"Shit."_ Aragon thought, then parried Mannfred's assault, turning the final blow aside with his left vambrace, and taking a snapshot at the vampire's side, cursing quietly when it only put a severe dent in the armour, though it staggered it's wearer, allowing Aragon a follow-up with Illumeo, which took Mannfred in the shoulder, but once again the vampire's armour turned the blow aside.

With a roar, Mannfred launched another strike, just as Aragon vanished with a sharp _crack_.The vampire wheeled about, expecting an attack from behind, only to be trapped in a column of screamed an inhuman scream of agony and ran blazing from the fire, only to turn to black smoke and vanish.

_Master of the Blood Wolves' A/N:_

_What have I got to say about this chapter…_

_Well, for those who're actually Warhammer Fantasy aficionados, the next chapters are probably going to be painful._

_Of the two of us doing this, I'm the one with the most Warhammer Lore, and the vast majority of it is the 40k variety._

_I've yet to actually read any of Gotrek and Felix or Mallus Darkblade, or any of the 'required reading' stuff in the Fantasy side of the Black library._

_Still, a 'laugh at the idiot' review is better than none and constructive criticism is always welcome._

_And has anybody seen any of the new Empire goodies?_

_Particularly Emperor Karl Franz, the Witch Hunter and the Demigryph cavalry?_

_Not to mention those INSANE war-engines?_

_My reaction as a High-Elf player: Aww, $#!^_

_Hideout Writer's A/N:_

_What he said was entirely too correct. This will be painful to any true Warhammer aficionados, as I know nothing, and apparently, what my friend and collaborator knows isn't enough for the 'true fans'._

_Not that I care. Since we don't seem to have any of the 'required reading' under our collective belts, we obviously don't need it for this story! Oh, and could SOMEBODY leave a review that I can reply to?_


	4. Chapter 4

Thelduin wheeled back around to where Aragon had apparated to.

He had a hot-shot lasgun in his hands and was watching back where Mannfred had been.

"_He's not coming back for a while." _Thelduin assured her Rider as she deposited the Terrorgheist's severed foot.

"Not coming back for a while should be about right." Ajax said, groaning. "damn it all, Aragon, what the hell did that thing do to you? I still can't see straight. Eh, either way, I took his ring when I saw what it really was. I might have shoved it up the business end of a shotgun for use as a modified choke, but that could just be the aftereffects of having recently died talking. Anyway, Amaranth took care of the zombie thing, I got the ring, I saw you fall and went after you while Amaranth took care of the Terrorwhatzit."

Ajax rubbed a hand across his face. "What I wouldn't do for one of Madame Pomfrey's pepper-up potions and seven drops of vanilla extract. So, what's next in this harebrained activity of yours?"

"What did you not understand about 'nothing out of the ordinary'?" Aragon asked as he replaced his chestplate, before using Illumeo to cut away one of the talons on the Terrorgheist's foot, before sheathing the weapon and gently lifting the Asur heiress free from the thing's grip.

"Sorry bout that, I was a little too busy engaged in something called 'SAVING YOUR LIFE'! I really am sorry you had to face that thing without the chestplate though, that could have gone straight to worst almost instantly." Ajax said. He actually looked sorry about the latter, but Aragon knew that Ajax truly did not care that he had revived the older Rider the way he did. "Believe me on this one, Aragon. Had I thought you could walk it off, I wouldn't have bothered to do what I did. Anyway, how long before we return to the ship?

Aragon shrugged. "You've got the radio." He said as he laid Aliathra out on the ground and checked her pulse.

She was cold to the touch, but her pulse was strong, and her breath when Aragon held his hand near her lips was warm.

Aragon could see Saphira and Thorn circling above, and a hundred meters away there was another loud sound of breaking bone, followed by a frenzied chittering.

As the bats came swarming towards them, Aragon stood and drew his staff, inhaling through his nose, Aragon filled his lungs with the Wind of Aqshy, then proceeded to recite a short canticle.

A dome of fire sprung up around the bats, which continued in their frenzied attempt to try and eat anything alive in the vecinity, meaning they flew straight into the flame-cage and crisped moments, all that could be heard was the gentle rush of the coruscating flames, which faded to nothing as Aragon released the spell.

"Actually, I don't have the radio. You have the radio, and a green flare." Ajax said. "So, do Murtagh and I just go back to the ship, or what's going on?"Aragon did a quick search of his gear."Correction, I _had _the radio..." He said, holding up the gnawed wreckage of what had once been a radio. "One of those frickin' bats must have decided it liked the taste of plastic. You have a back-up, right?" He asked Ajax.

"We all have a green flare on us...or at least, we _should_ all have green flares on us." Ajax said wryly. "Those who are staying on the planet should get moving before those of us going up pop the flare. I've got a decent radio receiver on me..." here Ajax laid an index finger against the ever-present sunglasses. "so despite the fact that we're popping a flare, I'll be able to hear it when they tell us that they're about to beam us up."

"Sounds good." Aragon said. "Thelduin and I, along with Saphira and Eragon will be headed to Lothern to return the princess here." he indicated the princess, who was still on the ground, though her head was propped up slightly. "You two can go back to the Odyssey and wait there. Since apparently, Eragon and I both have green flares, we should be able to ignite one of em for extraction."

"Scratch that." Ajax replied, looking up. He had turned his head slightly while Aragon was talking, as if he was listening intently to something, and when he looked up, concern and fear mingled openly on his face. "Odyssey is under attack. They can't risk dropping shields to get us out of here, and even if they could, they'd have to grab us all, right away, princess included. Whether or not we'd be able to return her unharmed after the battle is anybody's guess."

Ajax knelt down and drew a large circle while Aragon and the others watched. He then added runes so that the line of the circle went through the middle of each rune, then he drew one single line out from the circle. There he began writing in the dirt. 'Go home, send Phoenix' the message read. That done, Ajax put his hand on two runes, and the entire ring glowed with a golden energy that coalesced into a golden ball hovering level with Aragon's eyes.

"What are you doing, Ajax?" Aragon asked."Sending a message." Ajax replied. "Morse _lumos_!"

The golden ball began shooting strips of light at the sky, long stripes and short blips of light racing straight up through the atmosphere.

"What have you done?" Aragon asked."I sent a message." Ajax replied. "If I were driving the Odyssey, she'd have a shot at surviving. I'm not, so she needs to go home as quick as possible, and send a ship a little more experienced in this sort of thing. I sent the crew of the Oyssey four words, go home, send Phoenix. This message will repeat three times before dissipating, and by then, they should have gotten the message. That's why I picked Sergeant Harrison for this job, if he's on the bridge, and I know he is, he'll get the memo."

"Looks like we'll be doing this the way Eragon and Bid'Daum intended us to." Aragon said, lifting Aliathra up and carrying her to Thelduin's saddle. "Now let's put some distance between us and this place; as soon as Mannfred has recovered some of his strength, he'll be back, and he'll probably have some very unfriendly and probably undead monstrosities with him."

The wind kicked up again, and Aragon's form became larger, wings sprouted from his shoulders and his spine extended out into a tail, while he hunched forward onto all fours and his neck extended while horns sprouted from his skull and his fingers and toes acquired talons.

When his form settled, in the sickly light of Morrsleib and Mannsleib's normal silver radiance, the slate-grey dragon was back, but it now bore black and silver dappling in places vaguely analogous to where his armor would've been if he'd remained human, though the markings had taken on more natural-looking forms.

"_We_ _make_ _for_ _Black_-_fire_ _Pass_." Aragon said, launching himself skyward, closely followed by a brief moment of alarm from Thorn and Saphira over Aragon's altered appearance, they were all winging there way after Aragon, matching Thelduin's pace as she was carrying Aliathra.

Amaranth was flying above the group acting as a lookout, with Ajax flying level with her shoulder._Aragon_, _I_ _thought_ _that_ _ring_ _he_ _had_ _was_ _the_ _source_ _of_ _his_ _near_-_unkillable_ _power_. _Without_ _that_, _wouldn't_ _he_ _be_ _just_ _another_ _vampire? I did manage to steal the ring from him thanks to a confundus so strong I could have made Thelduin think she was blue and built like a tank." _Ajax said.

A moment later, he dropped several feet before recovering. _"We've got some shear going on here. I'm having a hard time reading the wind at the moment, so I'm pretty much forced to ride with you, Amaranth." _Ajax called out.

"_As it should be." _Amaranth replied. "_I wondered when you would actually ride on my back rather than ask for me to drape across your shoulders like some exotic pet." _she giggled for a moment, turning her head back to fix Ajax with a glittering emerald eye. "_Now you are MY exotic pet."_

_"Sweet Sanguinious, you never read Dracula or watched any proper vampire films did you?" _Asked Aragon. _"Even without his daddy's ring, Mannfred is practically unkillable, he's a- what was your rating for immortals that can only be killed a specific way?" _Aragon asked. _"At any rate, it is very difficult to actually kill a vampire, particularly a Lahmian or Nagashii vampire; they're stronger, faster, and usually more resilient than normal humans, not to mention they're usually incredibly powerful necromancers. The only sure-fire way I've heard of for killing a Lahmian or Nagashii is stabbing it through the heart. Admittedly, decapitation or excorism are probably equally effective, but as you can probably imagine, I'm no vampire hunter." _Aragon replied. _"And if you're wondering why Thelduin likes to ride on my shoulder, it's a quirk of hers, she's done it practically since the day she hatched."_

_"The only vampire books or movies I ever heard of was that Twilight abomination." _Ajax replied. _"I did come close to taking his head off, somewhat like Nearly Headless Nick."_

_"Well, that explains a lot regarding your approach to fighting that guy." _Aragonsaid_. "Now, that's enough for now I want to put in some more flying time before the moons set."_

_"Right."_ Ajax replied. He powered up his armor disk and jumped off Amaranth's back before leveling off and setting the locks to maintain course and speed. _"I_ _can_ _do_ _better_ _part_ _of_ _warp_ _two_ _with_ _this_ _if_ _I_ _want_..._star_ _trek_ _standards_ _of_ _course_, _so_ _don't_ _worry_ _about_ _me_ _catching_ _up_ _or_ _keeping_ _pace_, _I'll_ _do_ _just_ _fine."_

_"Don't you __**dare**__." _Aragon replied. _"Stick with Amaranth. The two of you are keeping your eyes open for Mannfred until we stop for the night." _He added. _"I wouldn't put it past him to try the same death from above tactic we pulled, and you're the best deterrent I can think of at present for that particular maneuver."_

_"That's what sensors are for." _Ajax responded, climbing hard. _"I fully intend to be waaaay up here, at the perfect height to insert my blade through the back of his chest when or if he attacks. Eh, scratch that. When he attacks, not if."_ So saying, Ajax leveled off at nearly a hundred and fifty feet above the formation, activating his cloak to remain unseen and unheard.

"_I don't know of this Von bozo can sense people when they're invisible, but I bet it's a little harder to hit that which you can't see." Ajax said. "I'm cloaked at one-fifty above the rest of the formation. Fly on friends, I've got your back."_

Aragon decided to grouse quietly to himself. _"If I encounter one curious daemon, and you're for it mate." _He warned, then was silent as he concentrated on navigating the air currents, angling towards Black-fire Pass.

The formation of dragons had been steadily flying towards Black-fire Pass for roughly four hours when Ajax growled savagely._"Fuck ordinary!" _he growled out.

Aragon looked towards Ajax's position in surprise. _"No! Ajax, whatever, you've got planned, save it!"_

"_And if I refuse." _Ajax stated_._

"_Don't make me come up there!" _Aragon warned_. "I'm already on edge as it is, you don't want me to come after you."_

"_Fine, don't come after me." _Ajax replied_, _a smirk coloring his tone_. "I'm doing what I've got in mind regardless."_

Reality buckled briefly_, _and Ajax entered the Warp_._

"_He did __**not**__ just do that!" _Aragon exclaimed in dismay_. "I'm going to kill him when I next lay eyes on him."_

"_Not if I beat you to it." _Amaranth replied_. "The fool, what was he thinking?"_

"_I think he was looking for some excitement." _Eragon said_, _joining the conversation_. "He was like that when I was training him. Well, it's nice to know some things never change." __. "I just hope we don't have to pay too much for whatever he's about to do."_

A brilliant blue diamond shaped hole opened in the sky, ejecting Ajax.

Aragon looked closely at the falling shape of Ajax for several seconds. _"Something's wrong." _he said_. "Or does Ajax have the tendency to not adjust his course at all when flying out of tears in the fabric of reality?"_

"_He does dead falls like that from time to time, but always in combat." _Amaranth replied_. "So, either he's in combat, or something's terribly wrong."_

"_Ajax, if you're screwing around, I'll kill you myself." _Aragon grumbled, changing course. _"Everyone else, keep going, Amaranth and I will catch up with you."_

"_His armor is engaged." _Amaranth said. _"Thank goodness for small miracles."_

Far below, the armor-clad form of Ajax impacted with the foothills of the mountains with a puff of dull-red dust, and lay completely still. A moment later, the shoulders began pulsing red.

"_Oh, he's in trouble all right." _Amaranth said grimly_. _A moment later_, _the pulse pattern changed_, _alternating between blue and red_. "And he needs medical attention." _she amended_._

"_Great. Just what did he DO?" _Aragon wondered_._

The two dragons landed, and Amaranth changed into her animagus form while Aragon changed back to being human.

"Ajax!" Aragon rapped out sharply.

A green circle lit up, directly over his heart. "Please identify yourself." a cool female voice intoned.

"I am Aragon the Grey." Aragon snapped.

"I am Amaranth Skulblaka." Amaranth said, concern lacing her voice.

"Noted." came the detached reply. "Current status, high alert. Medical attention required. Right arm broken, three places. Complete magical exhaustion. No further injuries."

"Is he conscious?" Aragon asked.

"Negative." came the reply.

"Can he be woken safely?" Aragon asked, wondering what questions would be best to ask.

"Affirmative."

"Will you De-activate the armor over his right arm, so I can heal the damage?" Amaranth asked quietly.

"Affirmative." the voice replied. A moment later, the armor receded to the shoulder.

Amaranth focused her magic and healed the damage before stepping back again. "Finished." she armor swiftly covered his arm again."What happened to cause his complete magical exhaustion and the current case of unconsciousness?" Amaranth asked the computer.

"Unknown. Conditions are safe to awaken user. Proceed?" the computer asked.

"Affirmative." Aragon growled.

"Confirmed." the computer replied, not missing a beat.

A minute later, Ajax awoke. "Computer, seventy milligrams of analgesic please." he groaned.

"Unable to comply." the computer replied. "That action would result in termination of conscious function for several hours."

"That's kinda the point..." Ajax muttered.

"What did you do?" Aragon demanded.

"Not so loud." Ajax protested quietly. "I entered the warp, drew on all the power there, and gave a simple command."

"What was this command?" Aragon asked. "You are supposedly suffering from complete magical exhaustion at the moment."

"And a splitting headache." Ajax added dully. "I told all of Chaos to 'be not'. Suffice to say, the results were rather impressive..."

"YOU WHAT?" Aragon roared, grabbing Ajax by the shoulders and pulling him forward until they were eye to eye.

"Tone it down." Ajax whined. "I've a massive headache that's not going away for a while. I told all of Chaos to 'be not'...their 'gods', demons, Marines and ships...anything with the taint of Chaos. Now, if you'll pardon me, I just want to sleep for a night and a day, or until this headache clears the system." Ajax said quietly. "Amaranth, you mind if I sleep in the saddle?"

"Not at all, partner of my heart." Amaranth replied. "Rest assured that we _will_ be speaking about this again, at a time when you are more recovered."

"YOU COULD'VE KILLED US ALL! CHAOS IS THE ACCUMULATED EMOTIONAL RESONANCE OF EVERYTHING THAT CAN _FEEL_ EMOTION IN EXISTENCE! YOU. COULD. HAVE _DESTROYED_ _EVERYTHING_!" Aragon bellowed at the top of his voice. "As it stands, you have probably just majorly pissed them off. Congratulations, you just painted a target on your back for any emotional accumulation capable of thought!" He added, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Damn you, Aragon." Ajax growled out. "I've a massive headache at the moment. If you need to berate me, feel free to do it, later, when you words can actually mean something more than simple white-hot pain." Ajax said. "Also, I didn't kill us all, as you can clearly see. All I did was purify the warp. I saw how it was, once, and restored it to that former state. I'm sorry I destroyed all those vile creatures that would be willing to destroy entire worlds on a whim, evidently, the destruction of evil isn't my job after all."

Ajax paused for breath. "You were busy telling me that Chaos would shit their pants if I so much as pulled out a skimmer or some other device like it. I'm not entirely sure why Chaos would fear a machine that flies one and a half meters above the ground, but apparently, those fuckers were that insecure. So, if the destruction of evil isn't my job, pray tell, what is?"

By this time, Ajax had lost control over his magical aura, and it flared around him, sarcasm crackling off his lips. "Well? Why'd Death hire me? Surely you know, after all, you know everything!"

Aragon took a moment to rein in his an easy task, and a small patch of earth had already frozen rock-solid in the meantime."I don't know everything you arrogant little anachronism. I know however, that everything balances out in the end. Good cannot triumph over evil and evil cannot vanquish good; there is only an eternal stalemate." Aragon said clearly.

"Take a look back into the empyrean now. Go on, look. All I see is the same turbulent sea of emotion, and in the warning distance a realm ruled over by the personifications of Rage, Despair, Ambition and Lust. You didn't vanquish Chaos, you just pushed it away, and it will return, and hunt down the thing that was powerful enough to do so; not even the God-Emperor or the gods of the Asur, or even the Great Devourer have that sort of power."

Having finished this philosophical monologue, Aragon cast a significant look at Thorn and Saphira, who'd landed when Ajax had fallen from the sky, and at Murtagh and Eragon who had been following the argument in mute and confused fascination."You don't ask, I won't have to explain." Aragon said simply with a shrug.

The four exchanged glances then shrugged.

"Alagaesia's problems are enough for us, we're only here because you'll owe us something for this." Murtagh replied.

"I'm glad we understand one another." Aragon returned, then resumed the aspect of a grey dragon and took to the wing once again. _"A_ _bit_ _further,_ _then_ _we'll_ _stop_ _for_ _the_ _night."_ He called, and the wing of dragons was once again airborne.

_"I'm well aware that it will come back, eventually." _Ajax said_. "I also know what I saw. Evil was winning. Not loosing, not holding even, winning. You so much as twitch wrong, and they would show up, destroying everything in their path. All I attempted to do was dispel enough of it that the personifications of Lust, and Rage and Despair and whatever else in the Warp would be destroyed. They were twisted fiends, and while I understand they concept of balance, obviously they did not. Had things been balanced, I wouldn't have bothered. Even Death knows about balance." _

Ajax fell silent for several seconds, collecting his thoughts_. "I met Lust once. She's the one who stripped me of my ability to love, since I wouldn't worship her."_

Another several seconds of silence went by, with only the sound of the wind and dragon's wings_. "The Phoenix is here." _Ajax said suddenly_, _sitting upright in the saddle_. "She's engaged a Chaos vessel...apparently it wasn't in the Warp when I pulled my little stunt."_

_"What do you want me to do about it?" _Aragon growled.

_"Nothing, there's nothing we can do." _Ajax replied, wincing. _"She can handle herself, and we can't get extraction until after she lowers her shields anyway, so we continue on."_

_"SO glad you could agree." _Aragon said.

Ajax glared briefly at the slate-grey dragon, but didn't comment.

From there, silence seemed to prevail, as Ajax became steadily more pensive throughout the journey. Eragon and Murtagh preferred to keep away from each other, what with the fact that Eragon had killed Murtagh before Orik before he was resurrected.

Eventually though, the relief Aragon had felt when Ajax stopped doing anything beyond silently ride vanished, to be replaced with worry. It just wasn't normal, especially considering that particular kid's nature! Still, Aragon didn't speak to it, hoping to avoid trouble until sometime after dealing with returning the princess to her people.

"_Alright, I think it's about time we stopped for the night, Thelduin and I will take first watch, so let's land and get some sleep. _Aragon said, angling down to a sheltered clearing, reverting back to human-form when he moments of landing and seeing Aliathra made comfortable, the group, save for Aragon and Thelduin fell asleep.

_HW A/N: Well, there's another six pages of work done. If anyone has any idea as to what has just happened in the warp, tell me in a review, and I'll get back to you about it! That's all for now, check back later for more!_

_Master of the Blood Wolves' A/N: I did my best to try and cut the face palm with the warp out of this chapter but…apparently Ajax is just that full of himself._

_Yep there's another chapter of this and there're more to follow._

_Writhe. Writhe. WRITHE! Mwahahaha!_


	5. Chapter 5

"Ajax." Aragon hissed into Ajax's ear. "It's your watch now."

Ajax jumped slightly, barely keeping himself from punching Aragon in the nose out of reflex. "Don't do that again, Aragon." Ajax hissed back. "You nearly got a nose-full of fist for your troubles."

"I'll remember that next time." Aragon said dryly.

Ajax took up his position, and listened as Aragon's snores joined the woodcutting chorus. His favorite method of standing watch was using telepathic sonar. Every three seconds, he would send out a pulse of telepathy and read the feedback from it before sending out another was not stupid. He knew that there was probably SOMETHING out there that he couldn't pick up with telepathy, and so he had his sunglasses serving as night vision goggles with infrared, heat-sensing, and tachyon sensors engaged. Even if an unseen enemy didn't show up anywhere else, the tachyon sensors should catch anything trying to get close.

He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and began cooking breakfast at dawn.

For the first time in a long time, princess Aliathra stirred. There was a smell of something savoury cooking, and she could hear the muted rumble of four pairs of huge lungs moving easily in peaceful slumber."Ah, Sleeping Beauty is awake!" Ajax cried jovially, flipping his pancake. "Bout dam time. I was starting to get worried that Von Stein had too much to drink and had harmed you before we could kick his sorry can of ash."

A heavy, knee high boot came arcing at Ajax's head from the direction of where Aragon was lying, half-asleep next to Thelduin."Shut up, Ajax." Aragon groused, then rolled over and attempted to fall asleep again.

"Did I hear 'double helping of Ex-Lax for me, please, Ajax'?" Ajax asked, grinning. He had finished with the pancakes and had moved on to grilling a few sausages. "If not, then of course, I won't serve any, but if I heard what I thought I heard..." Ajax flipped the sausages, the sounds of hissing grease and fat filling the campsite with the smells not far behind.

Murtagh sat bolt upright amongst his blankets. "Do I smell...?" he asked.

"Yep." Ajax replied. "Breakfast. Best meal of the day." The sausages disappeared under a metal serving dome as Ajax began working on making scrambled eggs.

Aragon didn't reply, and unaware of Aliathra watching bemused from beside Amaranth, gave Ajax a one fingered salute."You do, and I will break your wings at the shoulders." Aragon promised, then snapped his fingers and his boot came arcing back the other way.

"How's our guest doing?" Aragon asked, yawning as he fastened the clasps on his boot, then took a long draft from his hip flask, and immediately looked slightly less punch drunk.

Ajax grinned when he saw the single finger standing apart from it's fellows. "Sure, pick on the one guy who doesn't rely on magic to get airborne." he mock complained. He dodged as Aragon's boot flew past his head before landing on the ground next to Aragon's other boot. "As for the guest, she's wakeful, I think she saw you casual salute towards me. Anywho, I'm done here..." The eggs vanished under a third silver dome. "You have my word that I included no laxatives in this morning's repast. No matter how much I might think about it, I would not do that while we are traveling. I have a feeling Von Stein isn't gone yet, and I'm not inclined to stick around to find out. Sooner we're away, the better I'll feel." Ajax said seriously. "Breakfast is ready. Come one, come all."So saying, Ajax pulled out a plate and loaded it up before moved away from the fire. "We were attacked by an incursion of what looked like squirrels, except they were roughly double the standard size. You know anything about 'em, like maybe why they would attack? I'd say there were ten or twelve of the buggers, if that means anything."

Aliathra gave the human who'd been preparing the morning meal a bemused look.

A cursory glance of the other three revealed them to be warriors,-one of whom had evidently received training in how wield magic while in armour, and beyond that, it appeared they were dragon riders. The warrior-mage bowed apologetically to her."Apologies that you had to see that; Ajax doesn't know when not to run his mouth." He said, then came and crouched beside her."Are you injured?" He asked in concern.

"Right, I'm shutting down the disruption shields, unless we need to stay here awhile." Ajax said. He spread his heads over a small area, and the air seemed to thicken considerably before taking on a multitude of colors. It was mainly yellows and reds on a background of black, but there were some blue spots as well. Ajax tapped at several points, each tap being accompanied with a beeping sound, until he made one final tap, causing an oddly electronic grinding beep, and the perimeter of the camp flashed brown-red for a moment before the shields faded away.

Ajax finished eating, and began cleaning up the equipment used to make the meal while the others ate. Soon enough, the job was done, and Ajax stretched, catlike, invoking a sharp series of pops and cracks from his frame. His wings twitched in the morning air, and Aragon suddenly got the impression that Ajax might be inclined to simply up and away regardless to anybody else being ready to go. He was about to say something about it when Ajax's wings folded loosely, and Ajax withdrew a disk from his pocket before activating in over his chest.

"Stand down, Ajax. We aren't ready to go yet, so please put those shields back up." Aragon growled. "We haven't even finished breakfast yet, save for yourself."Ajax shrugged and repeated his earlier motions before pulling a book out of thin air to read while Aragon turned his attention back to Aliathra."No, I'm not injured, but where am I? How did I get here? Who are you people?" Aliathra fired off the questions one after another.

"I've got no id-"Aragon made a covert gesture towards Ajax, and whispered _"Silencio."_ and immediately, Ajax was silenced, though he continued on without noticing."My name is Aragon the Grey, Rider of Thelduin. My companions are Eragon shadeslayer, Rider of Saphira, Murtagh Morzansson, Rider of Thorn, and the winged idiot is Ajax, who for reasons I'm still trying to fathom is Rider to Amaranth." Aragon indicated each Rider or dragon in turn. "We're a couple of miles short of Black-fire Pass, and you got here due to our temporarily banishing Mannfred Von Carstein, I'd wager he's probably out for our blood right now after what we pulled. As for who we are, we're Dragon Riders of Alagaesia; your father entreated us to rescue you. Now we're flying with all speed towards Ulthuan before something else happens."

Just as Aragon said this, a boulder went sailing over there heads from the east, and crashed on the ground about ten metres beyond the clearing. This was closely followed by many voices bellowing WAAAGH! at the tops of their lungs.

"And, I should've known better than to open my mouth when it comes to this place. Everyone, pack up quick, we've got about a minute before we're overrun by orcs." Aragon said calmly, helping Aliathra to her feet, and helping her over to Thelduin, who'd settled into a crouch.

When she was settled, Aragon climbed up behind her."Stay low, I'll protect you." Aragon said, and they all took off, staying low, just as the first greenskins came charging into the camp.

"I'm going to want some more answers when we land." Aliathra stated.

"I'll be happy to provide them; it'll mean I'm not dead." Aragon said dryly. Privately though, he was still laughing. His silencing charm was still on Ajax, and he hadn't even noticed yet.

Ajax picked up the greenskins on his sensor net, and was amazed to find that they had managed to completely destroy a disruption shield point. The first several orcs were simply vaporized by the shielding harmonics, and Ajax quickly dropped the remaining shields as Thelduin went airborne, before becoming overrun by the monsters."Hello, ugly!" Ajax said, after breaking the silencing charm Aragon had put on him. The armor had spiked gloves, and Ajax was happily caving in orc skulls, whistling a merry tune. Several orcs went down in this fashion before a massive boulder came flying through the air, striking Ajax full on the head."Head, check." Ajax said, standing unsteadily. "Arms, check. Armor, check. Legs, torso, wings...yep, I'm still all here. Oh, and I'm PISSED AS HELL!" he added as an afterthought.

A green shockwave emanated from Ajax crumpling several orcs to ash. Ajax made a fist with his left hand, and green energy sparked on dull metal, before Ajax made a throwing motion, sending a searing fireball of magic directly at the orc. It was pure, unadulterated fury, and the orcs stood no chance against growled, not sated in the slightest, but as he had no more targets, it seemed he would have to rein in his anger. He looked around, and saw that the dragons were already in the sky, and the camp was completely packed away. Any evidence that they had been there had been erased by the orcs, so Ajax flung himself into the sky, rocket engines in his boots flaring to provide thrust as he passed Thelduin.

"Was that-" Aliathra broke off in speechless amazement."WAAAGH! magic? It appears so; Ajax can be an insufferable show-off when he wants to be." Aragon replied.

As Ajax passed Thelduin, he performed a two full barrel rolls before changing pitch and rapidly gaining altitude to join Amaranth in scouting. He carefully landed on her back, and after strapping in, the dragon and her rider joined thoughts, and were one in mind.

The orcs did not follow, and Aragon breathed a mental sigh of relief. His relief did not last long._"Von Carstein is back!"_ Ajax bellowed. He continued out loud, speaking to the angered vampire. "Welcome back motherfucker! I wasn't able to finish up with you last time, thanks to Aragon, but I think I can handle you this time!"The thrusters on his armor were at full throttle, and Ajax streaked down towards the vampire count, who looked on in interest from the back of his new mount.

Aliathra looked at the sideways pillar of flame with a question written across her delicate features, but she left it unasked.

Ajax dumped a missile pulled from a pocket dimension, and adjusted his course away from the missile flare, managing to get himself clear of the blast wave from the missile exploding, though Von Carstein was not so lucky.

The vampire reformed in midair, and Ajax carefully maneuvered himself underneath the accelerating vampire, likewise in free-fall. He pulled out a small bottle of a clear fluid, and poured it over a wooden stake. He then proceeded to slow down his descent enough that Von Carstein ended up being impaled upon the stake.

A swift motion later, Ajax was above Carstein and climbing while the vampire continued to fall._"WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME, Ajax?"_ Aragon boomed.

Ajax squawked and took several moments to recover. _"Dropped the vamp on a spike, with the tip covered in holy water obtained from Holy Terra."_ Ajax replied. _"Why?"_

Aragon drew a deep, shuddering breath, and felt Aliathra tense fearfully."Nothing to do with you. Just Ajax willfully disobeying my orders. _Again._" Aragon assured the princess.

Ajax accelerated as he angled up, gently settling down on Amaranth's back as the thrusters shut down. _"Hasta la vista, vampy."_ he chuckled across the link, and Amaranth smirked in reply._"And what will you do when he comes back again?"_

_"Dunno." _Ajax replied. _"You want a shot at roasting his sorry undead behind?"_

_"Mmm, sounds like fun." _Amaranth replied distractedly. Something was twitching in the air near her snout, and she was about to snap it up for a snack.

"_That is one of his pet bats." _Aragon warned.

Amaranth reacted violently, vaporizing the bat in a blast of flame. Aliathra, riding with Aragon and Thelduin, jerked frightfully as Amaranth roasted the bat, before she seemed to gently breath on the foul creature. It fell, a green glow coming off of the four inches of crystallized fire that surrounded the bat._"And to think I was about to eat it." _Amaranth muttered to everyone. She had not shielded Aliathra from her telepathic comment, and Aliathra tensed before looking around for the source of the voice.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"Amaranth." Aragon replied, sounding bored. "The green dragon up there with the knucklehead. How she could have bonded with that feathery attitude on legs is more than I'll be able to comprehend."

"Your dragons are telepathic?" She asked in wonder.

_"Indeed we are." _Thelduin said. _"The dragons of Ulthuan possess the same ability, though they're content with the arrangements they have with the princes of Caledor; they reserve the practice for members of their own kind, though they will speak freely enough with any who can also speak so."_

The remaining flight was peaceful, for which Aragon was glad.

When the group landed, Ajax prepared something he called 'What'cha'got Stew', which appeared to be two cases of assorted canned goods, all dumped together into the pot.

When the mixture was thoroughly heated, Ajax dipped a spoon into the pot and took a taste. He shook his head in dissatisfaction, then added some pepper and what he referred to almost lovingly as 'Creole seasoning'. He tasted again, then added some brown sugar before stirring and tasting a final time. "Done to perfection!" He called out. "Come 'n' get it!" So saying, he exchanged the stirring spoon in the pot for a ladle, then abandoned the pot to see about raising shields around the camp.

He spotted Aragon walking towards him as he finished raising the shields."We need to talk about your behavior." Aragon said.

"Yeah, yeah, that can wait. We are in enemy territory, and I did what was necessary to destroy Von Carstein." Ajax said. "Because of what I am, I have no need of sleep, it's just a habit I hadn't kicked yet. I'll be taking the entire night as my watch, the others need to be in proper fighting form during the day, and they'll sleep better knowing that their sleep won't be disturbed by whatever feels like snacking on us. I've got more than enough power to take out almost anything threatening, and everyone in the camp will know if I end up against something larger than I can chew off. I know how important this mission is to you, Aragon, and I'm behind you all the way until it's over. Now get some food, then get some sleep. I'll keep a weather eye out."

"Just who do you think you are?" Aragon asked, seeming slightly amused by Ajax's attitude and words.

"A combination of your medical officer and your tactical officer." Ajax replied.

"The only thing that has me taking you as anything remotely close to serious is the fact that you said all that in the ancient language." Aragon said.

"Yeah, yeah." Ajax mock jeered. He sobered up a moment later. "Seriously. Eat, then sleep."

"This isn't over." Aragon warned, "I will speak to your behavior soon." The older Rider then stalked off.

"I will speak to your behavior soon." Ajax mimicked in a childish voice, under his breath. "Jumped up son of a gun."

Ajax continued muttering in that general line of thought throughout the night, though he kept his armor on so that he wouldn't wake Aliathra and/or bring down the wrath of Aragon on his head.

At about five thirty, Ajax whipped up a hot breakfast, having it ready by six.

He rang a cowbell three times, attracting in the process several muffled curses from Eragon, who complained about his ears, Muratagh's bracers, aimed at his head, and Aragon's boots, both of them this time.

"Breakfast is served." Ajax said, after managing to dodge everything thrown at him. A moment later, one of Murtagh's bracers dropped out of the sky, hitting him square on the head.

"Oww…"

"Serves you right." Aragon said. "What about Alithra? What did she do to deserve being so roughly yanked out of her sleep?"

"Nothing." Ajax replied, rubbing his head. "I put a noise cancelling ward around her, so that the bell wouldn't wake her. It was cancelled when I put the bell back in the bag. Moving on to the happenings of last night. All was calm, all was bright."

"It's not Christmas you anachronism." Aragon tossed back, recalling his boots. This time, they hit Ajax square in the back of the head, the second boot hitting the first with a metallic clank before continuing on their journey to where Aragon was getting out of bed.

"Ow again." Ajax deadpanned, standing up again. "That hurt."

"Good." Aragon said. "Maybe they knocked some sense into your head."

"Doubtful." Amaranth replied, walking to where the food was laid out under the silver domes. "I don't think anything could knock sense into his head. Maybe he lost his when he became immortal."

"Wouldn't surprise me." Aragon groused. He retrieved his food and began eating. "Hey, this is quite good!" he said in surprise. "Where did you find this recipe?"

"Didn't." Ajax replied. "I just threw things together based on certain principles that govern cooking."

"Well you did a pretty good job of it." Aragon said.

The group took off after the camp had been erased, and Ajax rode with Amaranth, staying silent for most of the day.

He had mentioned that Aliathra hadn't been given the answers she wanted, and then fell silent. Aragon didn't bother telling him to shut up, as Ajax had fallen silent a moment later, and the tone had been polite enough.

_Hideout Writer: And there's all there is for this chapter. We will work on the next one when we get around to it. Until then…eh…review!_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: Not much to say this chapter except what you dear readers think, (hard to tell with no reviews) I'm thoroughly enjoying myself, and hopefully I'll be able to wrangle my co-writer into passing a settlement soon._

_That'd be interesting…_


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